


houston, we have a pair of gays

by monyaka



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, and kaito's gone to space, and shuichi's at home, and they miss each other cause they're homo, in which shuichi and kaito are now all grown up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monyaka/pseuds/monyaka
Summary: Kaito's finally achieved his dream of going to space, but there's always one person that ties him back to Earth.





	houston, we have a pair of gays

**Author's Note:**

> this is actually fluffy as all hell it's just so... cute. it's cute. there's like, no angst in it unless you super duper squint. it's different from my normal style, to be honest. but it's good. it's cute. it's very cute.

It had been a couple of days since Kaito had flown out. The first few days, he was told, was the difficult part. The part where he was busy, trying to adjust, still blown away by the fact that he was actually out in the cosmos, miles and miles away from home. He’d developed a strange habit of peeking out of the spacecraft’s window, trying to find Earth, find Japan, find Shuichi. As if he could see his sidekick living life, ordering food from his favourite restaurant, reading a book in the armchair by the window, laughing at a joke someone told, from all the way up there.

Missing Shuichi was alien to the astronaut. After all, the whole point of a sidekick was that they always stayed by your side. He’d never had the opportunity to miss him. But being in space, so far away--if the detective were upset, if he was having a hard time, Kaito knew he couldn’t just come home and cheer him up.

 _Nah,_ Kaito thought, fists clenching in resolve, _Shuichi’s stronger than that. He can cheer himself up! And he’d just get mad if he knew I didn’t have any fun in space while I’m here!_

Briefly, he wondered if Shuichi was still training every night. His hand moved, as if willed by the universe, to his pocket, where he kept his satellite phone. Maybe it was about time he checked in…

* * *

The past couple of days had been torture, hyperbolically speaking. The detective knew that there would be some changes, that the first month or so would be the hardest, that there would be times where all he could do was cry for how much he missed Kaito. But even that mental preparation wasn’t enough in the face of the gaping hole the astronaut had left in his life.

Over and over, Shuichi replayed the last time he’d seen his boyfriend--grinning ear-to-ear, about to regroup with the coworkers he would be spending the next few years with. “I don’t wanna see a single tear,” Kaito had reminded him, voice stern in a way that compelled his boyfriend to obey. (Funny how Kaito always knew when he was about to cry.) And then he’d cupped Shuichi’s cheek in his hand, looked into his eyes. The detective assumed he was trying to memorize how he looked; after all, he was doing the same thing, mapping out every brilliant feature before it would get distorted from crappy video feeds and the unrelenting cruelty of time.

A quick kiss on the cheek had jolted him out of his thoughts, the faint smell of hair product assaulting him before Kaito said, “I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t mope around, okay? I believe in you, so you gotta believe in yourself, too. You’ve got friends, family… You’re not gonna be alone, so don’t act like it.” It seemed unreal to the detective, like it was happening in a dream.

Someone had called him over, and Kaito had jogged off, shooting the other a thumbs-up before shouting, “I’m counting on you, as my sidekick! I know you’ll make me proud!”

And as he left, taking Shuichi’s heart with him, all his boyfriend could think was…

“Why didn’t he say he loves me?” Spoken aloud, the silence in the room swallowing the words and leaving only a faint echo. Alone, curled in his armchair, trying to take up as little space as possible. The room was illuminated by dim lamplight alone; it was past sundown, too late for him to call someone to talk. Reflexively, Shuichi pulled out his phone, checked the time. 1:36. A photo of him and Kaito embracing. The image felt like it was burning him, melting his eyes and blurring his vision. Kaito had said he wasn’t alone, so why did the emptiness haunt him like this?

Every morning, he woke up with too much space on the bed. The eggs in the refrigerator lasted twice as long. There was no sound when Shuichi wasn’t moving, no sign of life in the apartment. It was overwhelmingly quiet as he read. A lack of motivational speeches and the sound of the TV and abrupt changes of plans. The more he tried to remember, the less real Kaito seemed. Was it all just some hallucination? Was life truly so empty?

_I see… So that’s your enemy._

Untucking his legs, laboriously moving out of the warm cocoon of the armchair, Shuichi clambered gracelessly to his feet and began a set of fifty push-ups. He’d only gotten through twenty when the phone started ringing.

* * *

“...Hello?”

Shuichi’s voice was exactly how Kaito remembered it. Quiet, safe, familiar. It was like the world’s fastest space shuttle, hurtling him back to Earth, back to where Shuichi was waiting with open arms. His smile stretched wide across his face, he greeted his sidekick like a dog greeting its owner. “Hey, Shuichi! What’s up?”

When Shuichi responded, he sounded far away. Achingly far away. Part of it had to be how the phone distorted his voice, making it sound tinny and unreal. Like a robot, Kaito thought. Another part of it was the tone of the detective’s voice when he was too weighed down by his own thoughts to pay attention. Kaito, who prided himself on being a practical sort of guy, was more interested in that than the call quality. “Um… I’m fine.” There was a pause, a moment where his best bro grappled for words. “Space must be exciting, huh.”

“Yeah,” replied the astronaut, already laser-focused on his assistant, on the note of lethargy in his voice, on the bitter sound of anxiety in his voice. “It’s pretty much all I ever imagined it to be. But y’know… you’re gonna have to train a lot harder, cause I wanna bring you up here too!”

That earned him a laugh, that sound that always made Kaito feel worlds better. Shuichi didn’t realize it, but his laugh was a really comforting sound. It was a little sheepish even when it _was_ genuine, but that just added to the charm. “I don’t think so.”

Even though Kaito was sure he was joking, he could feel Shuichi freeze up, scared of the consequences of his words. Before he started stammering, the astronaut blurted the first thing on his mind. It wasn’t classy, but he had come too far to let his best friend start freaking out now. “Well, I do! Space just isn’t the same without my sidekick!”

The line went quiet. There was no stammering, but silence felt even worse. Like somehow Kaito had hit a nerve, or maybe Shuichi had hung up. He knew that the assistant he’d chosen would never do something like that, but for some reason, being so far away… he couldn’t shake the fear that something bad might happen. That maybe… Shuichi would be mad at him and do something irresponsible.

But… no, he believed in Shuichi! He had to trust that his friend wouldn’t do anything reckless. He’d come a long way from the sniffling teenager Kaito had met in high school. He had really come into his own, become a force to be reckoned with. It was weird, how even when they fought, Kaito admired Shuichi’s tenacity, the words he chose and the buttons he could press to make the astronaut’s blood boil. He’d chosen the right sidekick, someone so strong that Kaito couldn’t help but be blown away.

The detective finally spoke. “So you miss me, then.”

As always, Kaito replied with candour. Lying or being embarrassed didn’t even occur to him. “Well, yeah, of course. Like I said, space isn’t the same without you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, being here is great. But… yeah, I miss you. It’s hard not to, y’know? What’s a hero without his sidekick?”

He could practically hear the gears turning in the detective’s head. “I see. I, um… didn’t want you to think I was clingy or anything, but… Earth isn’t the same without you either.”

The way Shuichi said it, so sincerely, so full of affection--Kaito’s heart was melting. All he wanted was to just go back home and nuzzle into the crook of Shuichi’s neck in that way that always made him squirm and giggle. _Kaito, that tickles!_ he’d say, or something like that, but he’d be smiling and that was always good enough for the astronaut.

“I… I really miss you, Kaito.” The voice on the line was so soft, so sweet. How did Shuichi do that? How could he make even Kaito just want to go back home? He was the Luminary of the Stars! His destiny was the universe! But Shuichi, Shuichi and his homemade breakfasts, his sweet kisses, his eyes crinkling at the corners when he laughed… Shuichi made him want to stay on Earth forever. “I-I’m glad you called when you did,” confessed the detective. “I was having a hard time getting to sleep.”

“Sleep?” That was new. Was it late in Japan? “Wait, what time is it?”

There was some shuffling, probably the detective checking the time. “Ah… it’s almost two in the morning.”

Kaito’s eyes widened. “Whoa, it’s that late already?” His smile grew brighter, a line that he was sure would make Shuichi smile at the tip of his tongue. “Even though it’s so late, I didn’t wake you up! See? The Luminary of the Stars always knows the right time to strike!”

“Yeah.” The warmth in his soul bro’s voice was palpable, a million bells ringing in Kaito’s head at the sound and loading him up with... what, dopamine? Probably. “You always know...” Shuichi suppressed a yawn. Looked like Kaito was already calming him down. The thought of having an impact, even from so far away, was like a lightning bolt for the astronaut’s ever-improving mood. How had he managed to spend a few days without hearing Shuichi’s voice? It was like magic.

“...how to put me to sleep,” Shuichi finished.

Even though his sidekick had gotten a lot more daring since they’d first met—seriously, the guy was a nervous wreck in high school, always wearing a hat, never looking anyone in the eye—jabs like this still surprised the astronaut on some primal level. Like the guy was somehow turning the world completely upside-down with six little words.

He only barely missed a beat. Being an astronaut meant you had to be a quick thinker. “You know it,” Kaito replied enthusiastically, flashing the air a thumbs-up before realizing Shuichi wouldn’t be able to see it. “I kick insomnia’s ass.”

Mirth overflowed from Shuichi’s sleep-edged voice. “Did you just give me a thumbs-up?”

The tips of Kaito’s ears burned without his permission. He really couldn’t hide anything from the Ultimate Detective, could he? “So what if I did?”

“It’s... mm, cute.” Shuichi’s yawn reminded him of a kitten. He imagined his best friend curled up in his favourite armchair, pyjamas bunched up around his thighs from moving around while he sat, the phone loosely pressed between his ear and the chair. His best bro’s favourite pyjamas, though he didn’t like to admit it, were dark blue with stars and planets on them.

Realizing that Shuichi was about to fall asleep, Kaito swallowed. He didn’t want to stop talking. He’d missed Shuichi so much. Funny how he spent all this time preparing to go to space only to get homesick after a few days. But... he knew the detective needed to get his rest in order to tackle the next day. He wondered if Shuichi was still eating breakfast with him gone.

“Kaito...?” So cute.

“Yeah, Shuichi?”

“Can you... give me a kiss?”

The complete innocence of the question coupled with the half-asleep whisper of the detective’s voice threw Kaito off-guard, a rare blush rocketing to his cheeks as fast as he’d taken off to space. Doing stuff like this... it was always a little embarrassing. Shuichi was really affectionate when he wanted to be, but Kaito... he choked on his words sometimes. It was hard for him to say sappy things outright. Either he’d end up laughing or it wouldn’t come out exactly right, and either way that made things awkward. But his sidekick needed him right now! He couldn’t just back down when Shuichi needed him!

“Okay,” he said carefully, like he was defusing a bomb. “But after that, you should go to bed. Got it?”

A soft, sleepy hum of agreement.

“Okay.” Damn, this was going to be weird. When people said that long-distance killed, Kaito hadn’t believed them, but he was starting to get the picture. “I’m gonna kiss you in three... two... one.” He pecked his phone’s microphone, trying to imagine maybe it could have been Shuichi’s clammy forehead. It didn’t really work out the way he wanted it to.

“Thank you,” whispered his friend, and that made the embarrassment worth it. “I know this isn’t your strong suit... so it means a lot to me.”

Again, the astronaut was surprised by Shuichi’s insight. He wasn’t used to people knowing all that much about him. People called him reckless, idiotic, naive... but they didn’t really get the whole picture. And he didn’t really want them to. But somehow, without having to have that many awkward talks about feelings or whatever, Shuichi had him figured out. The thought was weirdly comforting. “Anything for my sidekick.”

The detective was always more candid as soon as he was about to fall asleep, sleepiness slurring his words. Kaito could still understand; he’d trained himself to be able to translate those murmurs into the insight and wisdom his assistant always carried. “Love you too, Kaito.”

“G’night, Shuichi.” There was no mistaking the affection in his voice.

“Night, Kaito.” And then the line went dead, leaving the astronaut feeling alone, but not lonely. Not anymore.

As Kaito looked out of the rocket’s window, he could have sworn he saw his sidekick sleeping soundly, even from all the way up in space.


End file.
